Fifteen gigs in 21 days, a new addition to the family - and what it really means to be Irish
I can't thank everyone enough who booked weddings and parties these last few weeks. You've all been exceptionally generous with your hospitality and reviews which makes the effort i've put into creating acoustic versions of music well worth it. I've added hundreds of new songs over the past couple of years and it's always a bit of a guess as to how to update my repertoire to compete in the live entertainment market here in Ireland, as opposed to the taste in music in England of which i'd be maybe more familiar. At times it has been frustrating, with blank stares as well-intentioned pub goes asked for Aslan, N17 or the Fisherman's Blues, nightly staples for any gigging musician here, confused and probably a bit pissed off as I had replied "err .. what?" garnering disappointing looks from the requester, or as one young lad shouted at me in Cork once "what DO you know?!". Very funny - ha .. ha.
The learning curve has been steep and i'm probably at a point now where i'm on a level with more experienced full-time Irish performers here on the Island but it's never 'complete' as such, as one recent interaction over the song "Streets of New York" in which I politely advised the requester that song wasn't in my repertoire (in fact i'd never even heard of it - as musically I don't find the Wolfe Tones as interesting as other folk performers such as The Dubliners, Paddy Reilly or The Saw Doctors) and which ended with a not so courteous exchange over what it is to be Irish, after a visibily disappointed and slightly pissed off local decided I wasn't Irish enough and if I would prefer to perform the British national anthem instead. Well - it says Irish on my Irish passport mate, how do you like them apples? In all seriousness, I would say most foreign-born Irish citizens go through elements of soul searching about how they fit into Irish society regardless of how they came to be here. Phil Lynott, Irish music legend, was born in West Bromwich! And Shane MacGowan was from Pembury. Moving on to the last few weeks of performances, it's been a wild ride - quite literally at times - careering around the back roads of Cavan at all hours at night, keeping the car from slipping off the wet road up to Clifden, or trying to keep my fat Citroen Picasso from falling into the holes on the Barna road. I covered two Monday's at Lowry's in Clifden last minute which was nice to be invited back as we have a blast with the tourists there, conversely the excuse of the stricken musician was ''still being hung over from the Mayo win'' - have Mayo won something recently? I hadn't heard!
I was delighted with the little table next to me, I'd managed to make it look pretty cool with my little promo banner, candle, pint of Guinness and two harmonicas - only to have my pint splat all over the floor (and my equipment) when moving the table slightly to the left - oh dear! Slightly less cool then. I had a quick look around - nobody was watching. I introduced myself to the bar staff - "hello, nice to meet you! I'm the covering musician tonight, and I've spilled my pint all over the floor can I get a towel?" Good start.
Things kicked off nicely with a packed house singing along to the usual mix of pop and folk .. after an hour it had turned into the rowdiest non-football crowd i've ever seen in a pub - my stomp pedal was slipping further and further away from me, still covered in Guinness and a very tall man off his slab on coke took a slow fall onto his arse and into the microphone knocking it into my mouth - a lovely souvenir for my lip. After i'd finally finished up with requests and my fun chat with Wolfe Tones man about my nationality - into the car to change into a fresh t-shirt, pop on a podcast and wind down!
Thankfully the rest of the shows were somewhat more chilled. On the Friday I drove up to Cavan for Amy and Gerald's Day 2 celebrations at the Farnham Estate the highlight being the Frank Sinatra medley I put together as a special request for the bride's grandfather which went down really well! Saturday the 25th was a short trip down the road to Kelehan's followed by a Corporate Barbecue in Cork on the Sunday for a staff party in the Village Hotel which was far wilder than I can ever had imagined (I had imagined a little staff party with some pop music being the background to staff drinks) - instead it was almost 2 solid hours of everyone up and dancing with barely a breath in between! They were wild but awesome. We finished on a nice rendition of Grace at the end with a bit of flag waving (finally a chance to use my Cork flag I bought for last year's hurling final) and before that a Frank Sinatra duet with a nice fella who sang 'My Way' with me. The drive home was for once a quite relaxing 3 hour drive up the motorway back to Galway.
No let up, as the call came in to cover Lowry's again to make it 4 gigs in a row, i'd be lying if I said I wasn't gunning for a quiet Monday evening by playing Raglan Road, Heart of Gold and No Man's Land but there was an older crowd in so it felt like a good fit. Friday brought a trip to Liscannor, Co. Clare and the wildest of hen nights which needed almost all of my party rep, plus a request to stay on for another hour of music after which I was so shattered a could barely stand. It's not a job for anyone with a bad back that's for sure - we finished on 'Sex on Fire' by the Kings of Leon (which felt very final) and I was able to get to my Spotify playlist in time to avoid any awkward silences. I packed up and drove away with a quick glance behind me to see them all still dancing away gone 2am (I think).
A trip up to Westport to play some music for the charming John & Jessica, who I had met the previous year strangely while performing in Gaelic speaking Carna (yeah - a great fit for someone who'se only Irish is tráthnóna, ceol and craic!) and finally to finish the weekend at Simon's bar in Banagher and on to 3 days rest.
Over the next few days i'll be the busiest i've ever been here in Ireland with music - Thursday and Friday i've pub gigs in Galway, Saturday i'll be performing at a wedding and then a birthday party, and finally Moate on the Sunday 10th August for an afternoon at the Auld Shebeen, which i'm thrilled about as I love what I do but with my wife almost due with our first child it feels like I should probably be preparing baby stuff rather than creating set lists! Well, there's no going back now it's onwards 'to the future!' as Chris Morris says in the IT crowd season 2 episode 1 just before he jumps out of the window.
Here's a few more pictures from the last few weeks!
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